University of Miami

Student Life, Exhibits & Films

Directed by Joel Coen United States, 1998, 35mm Film, 117 minutes, Color, English Jeffrey "The Dude" Lebowski is the ultimate LA slacker, until one day his house is broken into and his rug is ruined by two angry gangsters who have mistaken him for Jeffrey Lebowski, the LA millionaire, whose wife owes some bad people some big money. The Dude becomes entangled in the plot when he goes to visit the real Lebowski in order to get some retribution for his soiled rug, and is recruited to be the liason between Lebowski and the captors of his now "kidnapped" wife. No Coen film has greater value after multiple viewings than this shaggy-dog comedy, which continues to yield endless rewards with its gloriously profane dialogue, its lovingly daffy tribute to the "City Of Angels," and a dense, wayward plot that miraculously coheres somewhere around the 10th viewing. And then there's Jeff Bridges as "The Dude," the laziest man in Los Angeles County, who wants desperately to return to his layabout diet of weed and White Russians, but the rug-pissers, the Nihilists, and his belligerent 'Nam-addled buddy Walter, among many others, won't leave him alone. Also starring John Goodman, Julianne Moore, Steve Buscemi, Philip Seymour Hoffman, and Tara Reid.